Michael Bisping makes his case for an interim belt in the middleweight division

When UFC middleweight Michael Bisping retires from MMA he may want to try his hand at law. The 33-year old Brit has been lobbying for the creation of an interim strap in the wake of champion Anderson Silva’s decision to set his sights on a showdown with Georges St-Pierre, and he’s been doing a good job of it to boot.

Bisping recently elaborated on his position in a post on Bisping.tv where he explained why a temporary title was necessary and why his upcoming bout with Vitor Belfort would be a perfect opportunity to award it.

“I think almost all the fans would agree that the middleweight division is hotter than it has ever been right now,” began Bisping before running down the UFC’s roster of 185ers. “I’m at the top of my game, you had Chris Weidman getting some serious momentum, Alan Belcher – when he is healthy – is as good as anyone at 185 pounds in spite of that abomination on his arm, Cung Le has just KO’d the former champion Rich Franklin in one round, Tim Boetsch is there, Mark Munoz, Brian Stann, Chris Leben and the poison dwarf Hector Lombard are all in the mix and then you’ve got Vitor Belfort who is back at his real weight class after almost snapping Jon Jones arm in half on two weeks’ notice. On top of that it looks like the Strikeforce guys are coming in shortly, too.”

“With Weidman out, I think me vs. Vitor is a worthy Interim Title fight,” he continued. “Way more worthy than Urijah Favor’s 2354987th title shot, and I would defend my Interim Title against all-comers and keep the division moving. And I think I can speak for Vitor, too, because if he kicks my arse in January, he will defend the belt too.”

“As it stands, the middleweight division’s champion has no plans whatsoever to defend his belt until at least the end of next summer,” the contender concluded, reiterating the need for a belt rather than allowing Silva to clog things up.

Silva has said he intends to take a year off from competition unless awarded a shot at St-Pierre. Though GSP has remained noncommittal thus far, a May date has already been linked to the match-up.

In addition to Bisping’s willingness to put his potential gold up for grabs, he’s also got the resume to support consideration for a title-shot as does Belfort. “The Count” is coming off his fifth win in six scraps, outpointing Stann a few months back, while his Brazilian counterpart has emerged victorious in his last two tilts at 185 pounds and nearly took out Jones in a short-notice meeting last September.

An interim title is just an obnoxious way of declaring a #1 contender, so for me it doesn’t really add any real intrigue. Especially with such a dominant champion holding the real belt. But that was an impressive rant by Mr. Bisping.

My prediction is that GSP will refuse to take the superfight bait, Anderson will finish making the shitty Seagal movie, and he’ll end up fighting whoever is the most compelling option at 185 when that time rolls around, probably in mid-to-late 2013. I hope it’s either Weidman or Belcher.

“Vitor is a worthy Interim Title fight, Way more worthy than Urijah Favor’s 2354987th title shot,…”

Can someone tell me why Vitor is worthy of ANY title shot? Name one top 10 fighter he’s beaten since he accidentally won the belt 8 years ago.
Weidman, Belcher, and Boetsch are all more worthy of a title shot than Vitor. Hell, they’re all more worthy than Bisping. But since Michael is making the most noise so he’s gonna get the shot.

Is the Jan. 19th fight between Bisping and Vitor an interim title fight now?

Money talks. A $uper fight between GSP and Silva would sell a lot of PPV’s. A title fight between Bisping and Silva would sell a lot less. Personally, I’m ambivalent about a $uper fight between GSP and Silva, but there $eem$ to be enthu$ia$m for it.

Bisping has wanted the gold for a while, but has never had any interest in a fight with silva…now that silva is “out”, of course he will lobby for an interim strap…He can get the gold with out having to trade leather with the most dangerous striker on the planet.